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Oilers trade Taylor Hall to Devils for Adam Larsson

VANCOUVER, BC - APRIL 9: Taylor Hall #4 of the Edmonton Oilers skates up ice with the puck during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena April 9, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - APRIL 9: Taylor Hall #4 of the Edmonton Oilers skates up ice with the puck during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena April 9, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Edmonton Oilers have traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson in a straight up 1-for-1 deal.

There was reportedly no salary retained by either team.

The 24-year-old Hall’s name had been involved in trade rumors for quite some time, but had picked up steam the last several days as unrestricted free agent left wing Milan Lucic visited the Oilers. Hall is also a left wing.

The Oilers used the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft to take Hall, over Tyler Seguin, and he delivered for the most part with 328 points in 381 games since suiting up for the team as an 18-year-old in 2010-11.

The 6-foot-1, 201-pound Hall’s best season came in 2013-14 when he notched 80 points in 75 games.

During the 2015-16 season, the first for general manager Peter Chiarelli in Edmonton, he said he would make a big splash in the offseason after evaluating his team. The Oilers held the second-worst record in the NHL this past season.

“I’m not happy,” Chiarelli said around the NHL trade deadline. “There will be changes.”

After several years of drafting forwards with high picks, the Oilers defense had been mostly neglected, which helped prompt the move of leveraging Hall for a blueliner.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Larsson is under contract through 2020-21 for $4.167 million per-season. He set a career high in 2014-15 with 24 points in 64 games. Last season he played all 82 games for the Devils – the first time he played every game in his career – and had 18 points while averaging 22:31 per-game. He was a plus-15.

Last season, Larsson held a 43.92 5-on-5 score and venue adjusted CF%. He also was held a minus-3.50 5-on-5 score and venue adjusted CF% Rel.

Hall is signed through 2019-20 at $6 million. He will become the highest-profile offensive player on a New Jersey team starving for goal scoring.

Last season Kyle Palmieri and Adam Henrique both scored 30 goals. The next highest players were Travis Zajac and Mike Cammalleri, each with 14. Palmieri led the Devils with 68 points.

Last season the Devils ranked 30th amongst 30 NHL teams in goals per-game at 2.22.

This could open the floodgates for more moves by the Oilers as they try to remake their team with Connor McDavid as their new centerpiece. They’ve already reportedly talked to Lucic and Jason Demers about possible contracts during the free agent interview period. They’ve also kicked the tires on dealing 2012 No. 1 overall pick Nail Yakupov for a bargain basement price.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!